Stretch: The Place Of The Skull
Writing Exercise #40
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This weeks exercise was inspired by
’s All Saints Day altar reliquary, featuring a sneaky lil’ skull whose identity is unknown. The idea was fascinating to me, and needs to be explored:In the Chat this week, and for foreseeable future weeks, I will be hosting a discussion about the craftsmanship lessons (or story concepts) that I learned from this exercise, and asking about what aspects of craft paid subscribers are thinking about.
If you are a paid subscriber, check out the chat here!
If you have ideas for Prompts, Crunches, Sprints, Relays, Stretches, Fables, or other writing exercises in the future, please leave them in the comments! If you would like to write your own take for this exercise, please comment with a link so that I can see what you wrote and support your work, maybe even share your version with my subscribers. Please let me know if you have any thoughts, comments, or constructive criticisms as well!
Enjoy!
Crunch: The Unknown Skull
“What do you think we will find?” Balan asked.
“How the blazes should I know?” the Professor replied, while he wrestled with a crowbar. “Are you going to help or pontificate romantically about the art of archeology.”
Balan gave a blank stare.
“It’s a rhetorical question, confound it, come help me.”
Balan hurried over to his professor’s side and helped lever the crowbar until the stone tableau shifted slightly. They both leaned into the movement, and continued pushing the stone until a hole was revealed, with a ladder carved in the stone.
“The catacombs!” Balan gasped.
“Oh don’t act so surprised it’s what I’ve been saying all along. After the war everyone that didn’t make it out of the Zone would have had to have gone underground. Given that stone, I doubt anyone left after they were in. They became, perpetually, a subterranean people.”
“Do you think anyone is alive?”
“We’ve scanned this section of the caverns thoroughly, there’s not a living thing in a hundred miles of this spot. 500 years is a long time! After you now, chap.”
“Me?!”
“I’ll be down right after but we’re going in you see. That’s the whole point, that’s why they call this thing an expedition. The only way through is in, or…something like that. Anyway down you go.”
Balan turned on his headlamp and lowered himself slowly into the tunnel. It was a longer access tunnel than it looked, but eventually he came to the bottom. When he was on solid ground, he called up, but the Professor was right behind him.
“Quiet, sound carries for miles in these catacombs.” The professor scolded.
The ladder descended into a causeway leading into blackness forwards and into blackness back. “This way,” the professor guessed confidently.
The catacombs were lined with little stone rooms. It made sense—these were catacombs after all. But eventually they found a pair of doors that looked different. They were wooden, heavy, looked like there had been fixtures on the outside which had been peeled off over time. You could tell from the holes where nails affixed the ornamentation.
“This looks interesting. Hand me the crowbar will you?” The professor said. Balan quickly handed over the tool.
The professor levered the crowbar, expecting resistance, but the door opened with a ‘pop’ of some weak fastener breaking.
Behind the door was a strange sight. It was—well, by all accounts it was a church. It shouldn’t be a church, but here it was. Dusty pews, candelabras. There was a large stone Altar, and on the altar was a golden box encased in glass—still intact. It contained a human skull which bore a golden crown.
“Who do you think it was?” Balan asked.
“After 500 years we have no way of knowing. Clearly they found it important.”
“If he’s important he’ll tell us.”
The Professor looked over at his pupil. “What did you say?”
Balan shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a thought. I don’t know where that came from.”
Balan didn’t know how right he was.
(506 words)
Talk to me!
Your feedback helps to improve my writing. I would really appreciate a comment on your thoughts on this writing exercise. Consider telling me your thoughts about:
What is the highest and lowest point of the earth you have been?
What is the most surprising relic you have seen?
It’s November! Anyone start planning for Thanksgiving this early?
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy! Come back next week for another writing exercise!
Have you taken a look at the section called “The Volume” recently? All my longer-form stories are kept there! Be sure to take a look and catch up on any stories you’ve missed!
Thank you and God bless!
I like the open-ended, yet decidedly ominous ending!
Highest and lowest places I've been are actually very close to each other: Mt Whitney in CA (drove pretty near the peak), and Badwater Basin in Death Valley (lowest place in the US).
And we're doing our big family Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, so I get to have two great meals!
They're waiting below the ground, to punish the world that sealed them up and forgot.
1. I got to 10,000 feet on a hike in Colorado once. Lowest is boring old sea level.
2. I once saw a medieval sketchbook in a museum. They turned the page every 3 months. That's my definition of a relic.
3. I'm halfway across the USA and at a new job, which means no PTO. For the first time I will not be with family for thanksgiving. So I'm going to chill on my own and be thankful.